Thursday, September 2, 2010

My Books and All Kinds of Learners

Many teachers who work with children who are autistic or children who have learning disabilities write to me and tell me that my books are helpful in their classrooms. I’m not an expert in the field of education but I am very pleased that I do reach all kinds of learners.

I started school in the US and had a wonderful experience. But when my family moved back to Germany it was a different story. There was a strict, mean teacher and I began to hate school and hating school prevented me from learning. Back then it wasn’t recognized whether you were learning disabled but I’m sure I was.

I try in each of my books to include learning and entertainment and I aim to let readers into my world, my life experiences. The learning part I always camouflauge. It’s just one aspect; one dimension of the book.

I feel strongly that each child is an individual; each child is different. I don’t even like to use the word children. I prefer to say, a child and a child and a child. I think I make my books for a child, and that child is me, the child in me.

26 comments:

We all learn in different ways and thus are all learning disabled in some way to someone. Simple and pure and from your heart! That is what makes your books so wonderful! Thank you for sharing your heart with the world!!

My five year old son, Gabriel, has Down syndrome. When Gabe was two years old, he could use ASL to read two books, one of which was "Brown Bear, Brown Bear". When rocking Gabe to sleep each night, my husband or I would recite Brown Bear. :)

When Gabriel was about three and half years old, he began preschool. Each month, there was "Show 'n Tell", and every time he would pick a book to bring.

At this time in our lives, my husband and I worried about his verbal capability. If he answered, it was one word. He rarely volunteered to speak. Towards the end of his preschool year, he actually read out loud, "Panda Bear, Panda Bear".

I think his teacher and EA were about to fall over with surprise. ;)

Gabriel is now nearing five and half, and he reads at a Grade One level. He will begin Senior Kindergarten next Tuesday. In fact, we have an appointment shortly to meet his new teacher. I'm always wary of these meetings because often our most difficult job as Gabriel's parents is to ensure that he is seen as a child with potential first and always.

Your beautiful books will always stay with us to remind our family of our son's achievements. My son is now on the road to literacy, and it is authors/artists such as yourself that make this journey WONDERFUL!

I´m a teacher and I use your books They are fantastic, I love them and children love them. Just an example ( http://casadetolos.nireblog.com/post/2008/06/23/the-very-hungry-caterpillar ) take care hugs and kisses

Thank you for sharing your gifts and talents with us. We recently took a family field trip to the Eric Carle museum. I was surprised to see books of yours I had not seen before. Out of all the books in the store, my 8 year old son wanted to get Dragons Dragons & other creatures that never were. He is drawn to poetry and loves monsters and dragons so this book is perfect for him. Thank you for creating a book with my child in mind!

Hello! I am so excited to find your blog! I am a pediatric Speech Pathologist and your books, especially "Brown Bear" have been a staple in my therapy for years. I work with autistic children, children with speech and learning problems and children who stutter. They all love your books! The stutterers learn to be fluent, and my non-verbal babies begin to say their first words, when they see your books. You will never know how many, many lives you have touched and changed by sharing your art with the world. I also play with art and I am doing an art class for some home-schoolers on Sept 17 based on your work. We are going to be doing an ocean collage. I am making a blog for the class and will post their work when they are done. I have posted some of my own samples....Take a peek if you like!

Hi Eric,I'm a pre-school teacher from Portugal.I really love your work, last year I devoleped a project with my pupils based on the story of the hungry caterpillar. I have the big book, bout it from Amazon, here we only have the small edition, by Kalandraka.I have a blog sementesmagicas.blogspot.com maybe you'll visit it and see some of our work.You are a very special person, and you realy have a child inside.Thank you.

I love how you put it..."a child, a child..." But I am even more satisfied that you included yourself, the child in yourself. I don't know of a child who loves your books more than my 39 year old, teacher/mother self. Thank you, for touching our lives in deep, impactful, and positive ways.

Thank you for all that you have done for "the child." Your books are timeless. Would love to invite you for a book signing at our annual conference in April 1&2, 2011 at The Gideon Putnam in Saratoga Springs, New York. "We" being Family Child Care Association of New York State provide training for child care providers throughout New York State.This Association is celebrating our 20th year!! Look forward to hearing from you,Heather Schwegler - Board Memberhschwegler@fccanys.org

This is from my son, Eddie - 4 years old "I like your books cause I like those pages that you wrote cause they are so awesome. I like the 'Hungry Hungry Calipitar' and I like how you writed it and i really think that they are super super cool, and i like how you wrote the 'Hungry Hungry Calipitar', like how you drew pictures about the calipitar and what the calipitar is doing and I like that. I like how you like, drew those pictures, and it is really really cool. You are awesome at doing that - like how you do green and yellowish - I really like that.

I'm a teacher in a special school for children with learning disabilities in Holland. And I put lots of love in my work. I adore these children, their lives are not easy-going, which makes them so wise not to laugh at others. They're so young and already understand that. I'm rich with a job like this. And they love your books, by the way.

Would you be opposed to particpating in a skype call with a second grade class. You could talk to us from inside your home.I am learning how to integrate technology into the classroom and this would be a great opportunity.

Just want to share my happiness with you...this is how my preschool children reproduce the collage of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" with me. They enjoyed doing the collage very much! This is our happy moment. Hope you can feel it too!!http://ansonheaven.blogspot.com/2010/08/blog-post.html

About Me

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of the more than 70 picture books that I have written and/or illustrated. I was born in the U.S. and was raised in Germany. My background is in graphic design but since the late 1960's when I illustrated Bill Martin Jr's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I have been creating books for children. My illustrations are collages made with my own hand-painted tissue papers, a technique many children have replicated and enjoyed in their classrooms and at home. With my wife Barbara, I am also the cofounder of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA.